LA VERGNE — La Vergne started hitting its shots in the fourth quarter to pull away from Pope John Paul II.

The Wolverines defeated the Knights 57-48 Tuesday night, scoring 28 of their points in the fourth quarter.

Both teams struggled from the field until the Wolverines (4-2) started scoring, and it allowed them to go on a 9-1 run to start the fourth quarter. The Knights (4-1) couldn’t recover.

Gulecy Buni led the way with nine points in the second half for La Vergne and finished with 11 overall. Maleik Gray and Darius Sparks each scored 10.

“We got our practice habits going in the game, and that’s what made us successful,” Buni said.

The Wolverines were 10-of-16 from the field in the fourth quarter, after only connecting on 12-of-35 through the first three quarters.

By hitting the shots during the 9-1 run, La Vergne forced the Knights to change their defense, and that gave the Wolverines fast-break opportunities, which they took advantage of.

“We were trying to play fast, it’s just hard when the shots don’t go in,” said La Vergne coach Jeremy Moore. “I thought our kids kind of persevered. We didn’t have a great shooting night, but we just kind of stayed the course. Eventually we were able to get some things in the open floor and we were able to finish them and grow our lead.”

Pope John Paul II also struggled to score and missed open shots. The Knights finished 17-of-48 from the field, and only 12-of-24 from the free throw line.

“It was so tight the whole game, and they went on a mini-run,” said PJP II coach Carl Brown. “For three quarters, neither team was scoring, and in the fourth quarter, it was going back and forth, but we just could never get caught back up. I don’t know how many (free throws) we missed, we missed about 10, but we’ve got to shoot better from the line.”